The central hub for finding and applying for all federal grant opportunities is Grants.gov. This website is a free, official resource managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on behalf of all federal grant-making agencies. It provides a comprehensive, searchable database of available grants.
On Grants.gov, you can search for grant opportunities by keyword, agency, eligibility category, or other criteria. Each grant forecast or synopsis provides details about the funding opportunity, including its purpose, eligibility requirements, and application deadlines. The website also provides extensive resources to help individuals and organizations navigate the grant application process.
A single-bid contract is a government contract that is awarded after only one company submitted an offer. This is different from a competitive contract, where multiple companies bid for the work, which typically helps ensure a fair price and good value for the government.
Single-bid contracts can pose a risk to taxpayers. When there is no competition, the government may end up paying a higher price than necessary, and there is less incentive for the company to provide high-quality goods or services. While there are sometimes legitimate reasons for a single-bid award, such as when only one company possesses the required expertise, government watchdogs like the GAO closely monitor the use of non-competitive contracts to identify potential waste and ensure the government is getting the best value possible.
The Assistance Listing, formerly known as the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA), is a comprehensive government-wide catalog of all federal programs that provide assistance or benefits to the American public. Each program is assigned a unique five-digit number for tracking and identification purposes.
It creates a standardized way to organize and identify thousands of federal programs, from student loans and small business grants to scientific research and housing assistance. For citizens, non-profits, and state or local governments looking for federal funding, the Assistance Listing provides a clear, searchable index of what programs exist, what their objectives are, and who is eligible to apply. The official repository for this information is now part of the System for Award Management (SAM.gov).
The primary source for detailed information on federal contracts is USASpending.gov. This official U.S. government website is designed to provide transparency on federal awards, including contracts, grants, and loans. You can search for contract data by keyword, agency, recipient, location, or a variety of other filters.
For each contract, the site provides information such as the awarding agency, the name of the vendor, the amount of the award, the period of performance, and a description of the goods or services procured. For those interested in more specific federal contracting data, the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) is the underlying repository of all federal contracting data, though USAspending.gov is generally more user-friendly for the public.
The main resource for finding information on federal grants is USASpending.gov. This official government website tracks all federal spending, allowing the public to see how taxpayer money is used. You can search the site for grant awards using various criteria, such as the recipient’s name, the funding agency, the location of the project, or the assistance listing number (formerly CFDA number).
The site provides details on each grant, including the award amount, the purpose of the funding, and the recipient organization. Another key resource is Grants.gov, which is the central portal for finding and applying for federal grant opportunities. While Grants.gov is focused on the application process, it also offers information about available funding programs across the government.
The rules governing federal lobbying activities are primarily established by the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. This law requires lobbyists to register with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives and to file quarterly reports on their activities. These reports disclose who they are lobbying for, what issues they are working on, and how much money is being spent.
For public transparency, this information is collected and made available through searchable online databases. The two primary official sources are the Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database and the House Lobbying Disclosures database. Additionally, non-partisan organizations like the Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets.org) compile this data and present it in a user-friendly format, allowing the public to easily track lobbying spending by company, industry, and issue.
The best place to see which companies receive the most in federal contracts is USASpending.gov. This official government website provides detailed, searchable data on all federal spending. It has a “Top Recipients” section that allows you to see which contractors have received the most money from the federal government over various time periods.
You can filter the data by year, agency, and other criteria to see rankings of top contractors for the entire government or for a specific department like Defense or Health and Human Services. The site provides details on the total amount of money obligated to each company and allows you to drill down to see the individual contracts that make up those totals. This provides a transparent view of where federal contracting dollars are flowing.
